Rainbow Lions: Helping people to see things from a different perspective

Eva Leysen, Julia Schneider, Corentin Declercq and Wojciech Michalek are four of the seven Rainbow Lions board members in Belgium. All four of them regard ING Belgium as a safe place to work already. Eva: “We just ran a survey among LGBT+ people about how inclusive ING Belgium is, and the results are very encouraging.”

Are you sure you’re gay?

“Nevertheless, people still make careless remarks or jokes sometimes, and I think we've all been asked our fair share of inappropriate questions, like ‘Are you sure you’re gay?’ or ‘Which one of you is the guy in your relationship?’! Questions like that are rarely intended to be hurtful or offensive; they usually stem from curiosity or just plain thoughtlessness. So we’ve recently launched a series of internal videos called ‘Ask me anything’ to address this issue,” she adds.

We’re in this together

Julia agrees: “I think we can all admit to not always being as sensitive as we should be – even me, and I’m someone who is super-aware and super-interested in diversity and inclusion! I’m an ‘ally’ of the Rainbow Lions and don’t actually identify as LGBT+, so for me my membership is really about listening, learning and being aware of my own privileges. From that position, I aim to provide support, be an advocate of inclusivity and send out a clear signal. It’s not about ‘a minority group’ having to solve ‘their’ problems. We’re in this together!”

Still work to be done

Wojciech, who has been chair of the Rainbow Lions in Belgium for the past two years, says: “Joining a network is very worthwhile because it can help you to see things from a different perspective. I personally have never felt discriminated against, but I know there’s still plenty of work to be done to make sure that people are treated equally on all fronts. Right now, one issue is how our company meets the needs of trans people at work, such as by providing gender-free toilets and establishing procedures related to transitioning in the work environment. I’m also very committed to improving the status of the LGBT+ community in my homeland, Poland, which is currently not so great. There’s still a lot of progress to be made internationally.”

Cross-network, cross-company and cross-border events

The coronavirus situation is making it difficult to meet up in real life, but the Rainbow Lions are nevertheless looking at all kinds of opportunities to organise activities for a broad group of people – across networks, across companies and even across borders. Wojciech: “I sometimes feel a touch of nostalgia for the ‘good old days’ when we celebrated Brussels Pride – that was the highlight of the year!” Corentin: “And what about the X-mas party last December, which involved Lioness, Crossing and Ring?! Let’s hope that we’ll soon be able to organise those kinds of events again. In the meantime, we’re making do with online events like webinars, pub quizzes, training sessions and workshops that are open to everyone.”

Coming Out Day

Eva: “To mark the occasion of Coming Out Day, we want to emphasise that any of our colleagues can reach out to us if they are struggling to come out at work. And we’re keen to hear from new arrivals or anyone else at ING who would like to connect with the Rainbow Lions, either as a community member or as an ally. Everyone is welcome!”